Chapter 8

Before heading over to the Rocky Mountain Livery, Longarm made a quick stop to see Gloria Harmon at her shop. He knew that she was as worried as anyone about Bodie, and he felt that he ought to bring her up to date, which he did in as few words as possible.

“Thank heavens you’ve found him!” Gloria said with a huge sigh of relief. “I was beginning to think the worst . . . you know, that he’d been badly injured or murdered.”

“No, the mortician said that the man he is working for, a Mr. Otis Redman, is a good person. I’m sure that Bodie is getting along fine, and his dog Homer was with him.”

“So what are we going to do now?”

“What’s the ‘we’ stuff?” Longarm asked. “This is my job and I’m going to go see Bodie.”

“What if he won’t come with you?”

Longarm’s brow furrowed. “I was thinking about that on the way over here from the Federal Building, and I have to say there’s a good chance Bodie isn’t going to cooperate.”

“You can’t just grab him by the collar and drag him away from that livery.”

“I know. But I think I can persuade him that his life could get very unpleasant if Sheriff Miller or one of his deputies latches onto him.”

“I could close up shop and come with you.”

“No,” Longarm told her. “I think I simply need to have a quiet talk with Bodie. Tell him the facts and then see how he reacts. The kid is smart, and the last thing he’ll want is for the sheriff to take him into custody and away from his dog.”

“Good luck,” Gloria offered as a customer entered her shop.

“Thanks.”

Longarm headed for the livery located on nearby Federal Street. He wondered how Bodie would react when they met and decided there was just no way to predict how the kid would take his sudden appearance.

Ten minutes later, Longarm rounded a corner and saw the livery. He walked directly into the big barn, and there was Bodie sitting on a bale of straw drinking a cup of water, with Homer resting at his feet.

“Hello, Bodie.”

The boy showed no reaction at all.

“How is your dog doing?”

“He’s on the mend,” Bodie replied.

“We need to talk.”

“I expected you would be around sooner or later,” Bodie said. “But before you say anything, I’m not going anywhere with you and neither is Homer.”

Longarm nodded with understanding. “Sheriff Miller and his deputies are searching high and low for you. If the sheriff gets you, he’ll put you into custody and you won’t be able to keep Homer.”

“Nobody is separating me from Homer,” Bodie said, face tightening. “And I’m doin’ just fine. All I want is to be left alone.”

“I wish you could be left alone,” Longarm said, “but I’m afraid that isn’t possible. And I’ve got some things to tell you.”

“About what?”

“About John Stock . . . and your mother.”

At the mention of his mother, Bodie jumped to his feet, eyes hardening. “What do you know about her?”

“Take it easy,” Longarm said.

“Any trouble here, Bodie?” a voice called out from the gloom in the back of the barn.

“No, sir! I’m talking to the law. Ain’t no trouble.”

The old liveryman emerged from the shadows, took one look at Custis, and then turned around and disappeared out the big back door.

“What about my mother?” Bodie asked. “Or are you just sayin’ something to trick me into doing what you want?”

Longarm sat down on a nearby bale of straw and took a moment to compose his words. “John Stock had a letter that was found on his body. It was a letter from your mother, and she has remarried and is living in Virginia City on the Comstock. The letter was asking you to come live with her and her new husband, whose name is Mr. Burlington.”

The half-filled cup of water spilled from Bodie’s hand, but he didn’t seem to notice. “My ma got married again?”

“That’s right,” Longarm answered. “The letter says that she found religion, fell in love, and married a pretty good and wealthy man. Both she and her new husband want you to come and live with them in Virginia City.”

Bodie looked away for a moment, then turned back to Longarm and said, “I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true.”

“Show me the letter.”

“Could you read it if I did?”

“Not much of it . . . but some. I’d recognize her handwriting in a second, though.”

“The letter is in the hands of my boss. And, Bodie, there’s something else you need to know. The letter is bloodstained.”

Even in the dim light of the barn’s interior, Longarm saw the boy pale. He whispered, “Go on.”

“I’m pretty sure that your onetime stepfather, John Stock, murdered or badly injured your mother and stole her jewelry. Most likely, he intended to take you to your grandmother and aunt and tell them some tall tale about how your mother died and he was the one that helped you get to Denver and safety. John Stock would have hung around your grandmother’s place a few days . . . or even weeks, playing on her sympathy, and then he’d have robbed and possibly even murdered her and your aunt just like he might have done your mother.”

Bodie was silent a long time before he said, “I still don’t believe a word of it.”

“It’s sad but true.”

“I need to see the letter.”

Longarm scowled. “The letter is addressed to you, Bodie. And I’ve no doubt that you’ll recognize the handwriting.”

“I want to see it now!”

Longarm decided that he had no choice. “All right. Let’s go to my office, and I’ll talk my boss into showing you the letter and the jewelry.”

“Why would my ma send me jewelry?”

“She didn’t,” Longarm explained. “John Stock took it away from her, probably after he killed her. But I won’t know that until I’m in Virginia City.”

“You’re goin’ there?”

“I am,” Longarm said. “I’m leaving on the train tomorrow. It runs up to Cheyenne and then all the way to Reno. I can catch a coach from Reno to Virginia City.”

“I’m goin’ with you.”

“No.”

“I’m goin’ with or without you, Marshal. And I’m takin’ my dog.”

“It’s a long, long way to the Comstock Lode.”

“I know. I come from Bodie. I know how far it is, but I’ll get there.”

“Your grandmother, Ida, and aunt Rose would like you to live with them. They have a fine house. You and Homer could stay with them, and when I get back with some answers, we could decide what to do.”

“Is Sheriff Miller that dumb that he couldn’t even find me there?”

Longarm almost smiled. “He’s dumb, but you’re right. He’d find you at your grandmother’s house.”

“Well then? I ain’t never rode a train and neither has Homer.”

“You can’t take him on the train.”

“I’ll take him or not go.”

“You can’t take a dog on the train.”

“I can if I sleep in a cattle or freight car. Some of them go to Reno, don’t they?”

“Yes, but . . .”

“Well that’s it then. If you got the letter and it’s from my ma, I’m goin’ to Virginia City one damned way or the other.”

Longarm had to admire the boy’s determination. “Let’s go to my office and see what my boss says.”

“I don’t give a damn what your boss says,” Bodie told him. “That letter and that jewelry you said belonged to my ma now belong to me. I could sell the jewelry and have enough money to buy my own damn ticket to Reno, couldn’t I?”

“I suppose.”

“Anything else that my ma had for me?”

“A few gold nuggets.”

“Well then I’m set for money, and I’m leavin’ with or without you, Marshal.”

“Were you born this stubborn?” Longarm asked.

“I was born hard and I stayed hard,” Bodie said without a trace of pride. “I been on the bottom, and I’m sick and tired of it. Don’t like being told what to do.”

“Then how do you even hold a job like this?” Longarm asked, looking around.

“I ain’t been here but a couple of days. Mr. Redman, he don’t tell me what to do like I was some slave. He asks me to do things and I do ’em because he asks. That’s all it takes, just the askin’ rather than the tellin’. Understand?”

“I understand.”

“Okay, then. I’ll go with you if you ask.”

“Would you go with me to my office to see that letter your mother wrote, maybe even on the day she was murdered?”

“Yes, sir, I will. But Homer comes with me.”

“Fine,” Longarm said. “Let’s go.”

“Wait a minute.”

Longarm watched Bodie go out the back of the barn. He was gone only a few minutes, and Longarm figured it was to tell Otis Redman that he was leaving for the Comstock Lode and to thank him for his help.

Bodie was a good kid. Hard as nails, but a good kid all the same. Longarm wasn’t sure if Billy Vail would go along with letting Bodie go off to Virginia City. But then again, Longarm didn’t think that Billy had any choice in the matter. None at all.